Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is stepping up its response to quad and motor bike riders that illegally access trails in Scotland’s national woodlands. The warning comes as several riders were caught on FLS cameras at Glenglass and reported to Police Scotland. Colin Watret, Delivery Forester for the FLS team in the area said; “Using any motor vehicle on the trails that w...
Monday, 14 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland has planted 5,000 native trees along the banks of the River South Esk as part of a major project to improve biodiversity and the long-term catchment resilience on the River. The project, which also covered River South Esk catchment in Glen Doll Forest, Angus, was carried out with the River South Esk Catchment Partnership, and funded through the NatureScot Biodiversity C...
Friday, 11 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland has been helping Saving Wildcats colleagues at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s Highland Wildlife Park to kit out the new conservation breeding enclosures as the next stage of this exciting European partnership project gets underway. With an unsustainable population of Wildcats now left in the wild in Scotland, FLS and RZSS – both partners in t...
Thursday, 10 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland is urging people not to pick wild rhododendron leaves for Christmas wreaths, flower arrangements or table decorations – in case they end up spreading a deadly tree disease. Rhododendron ponticum is an invasive species that can quickly smother a woodland and kill off ground vegetation.It is also a carrier of Phytophthora ramorum (more commonly referred to as P. r...
Wednesday, 09 December 2020
A project that is gearing up to revolutionise tree nursery practices is a contender in next week’s Scottish Public Service Awards. Nominated for the Sustainability Award, TreeTape is a new system of germinating and planting young trees that will help increase the number of viable seedlings grown from seed. A development partnership between CivTech, Forestry and Land Scotland and Cumbria Tree G...
Monday, 07 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland is inviting people in and around Shotts to take part in its development of a new Damside Land management Plan. The plan is concerned with a 480ha of former opencast coal mine site (1.5 km south of Shotts) that is situated between upland forestry and windfarms to the south, and mixed pastures and woodland to the north. It focuses on new woodland creation – both...
Friday, 04 December 2020
With felling work to remove diseased trees in Campsie Glen starting w/c Dec 14th , local residents and visitors are being urged by Forestry and Land Scotland to heed all safety signage and follow the ‘Keep it Clean’ biosecurity advice. The site is one of several sites across Scotland that was recently confirmed as having Phytophthora ramorum – commonly referred to as P. ramorum – which at...
Friday, 04 December 2020
Preparatory steps to get the hillside above the Rest and Be Thankful ready for woodland creation will begin later this month. Forestry and Land Scotland, which is working in partnership with Transport Scotland, is to start erecting deer fences that will protect the saplings of a range of tree species that are to be planted in to help maximise slope stability. Planting is intended to start in Sept...
Thursday, 03 December 2020
While many organisations claim they take the ‘long view’ not many plan a century or two ahead - but Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) does just that in its work to plant the forests of the future. Marking National Tree Week 2020, FLS said that it is on course to have planted 25 million new trees by the end of this planting season. Tree planting on this scale is at the core of the organis...
Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland’s West Region team is drawing up long-term emergency plans to deal with the substantial spread of tree disease, Phytophthora ramorum, which attacks larch trees. The steps are being taken as a results of this year’s national tree health survey revealed that the Region has 20 new sites where the disease has been confirmed. Of those, 12 have to be felled by the middle...
Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland’s Tyrebagger Christmas Tree booking system has been so popular that all of the approximately 3000 slots were allocated in just over a week after going live. Introduced this year to help keep people safe and to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 transmission at the Tyrebagger sales centre (nr Aberdeen), the system required people to pre-book a time slot where they coul...
Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Forestry and Land Scotland is inviting people in Dumfries and Galloway to take part in its development of a new Land Management Plan for Corriedoo – near St John’s Town of Dalry. The plan is concerned with 418ha of upland coniferous forest and focuses on sustainable timber production, increasing forest species diversity while also improving riparian connectivity. There are also proposals for...